“Three of you, please come inside!”
Entering the restaurant, a waiter in plain clothes and a cap immediately ran over to greet them. When he saw the armored Wei Yang behind Gu Wangchen, his expression froze for a moment, but he quickly masked it.
“Lord, and you as well, Officer, and Heroine. Would you like to sit in the main hall or a private room upstairs?”
Gu Wangchen glanced at him and said casually, “Upstairs. I have no desire to sit with these fellows; it’s bad luck.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but he intentionally kept it at a volume that several people with cultivation could hear.
As soon as they entered, he noticed several tables in the hall occupied by people who possessed cultivation, mostly at Stage 2 or Stage 3.
Although Great Qian had a culture that favored martial arts, the density of cultivators in a random restaurant was indeed a bit high.
The moment his words fell, a table of diners with cultivation stopped their drinking and chatter, scanning Gu Wangchen’s trio out of the corners of their eyes.
Wei Yang felt the unusual nature of these people and their faint hostility. His body shifted, and he instinctively reached for the long-handled saber on his back.
Gu Wangchen tapped Wei Yang’s leg with his own, signaling him to stop. He then said, “I want your most luxurious, high-end private room. Do you have any left?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Please follow me to the third floor, Lord. Only the Falling Moon Room in the West Wing is worthy of your status.”
“Lead the way.”
The three followed in a line. Gu Wangchen intentionally walked last, observing the reactions of the people in the hall from the corner of his eye.
After confirming that those guys showed signs of wanting to leave, a suspicion formed in Gu Wangchen’s mind.
The moment he stepped onto the stairs, he reached into his robes and secretly squeezed the Twin Vibration Stones.
Following the waiter into the private room, Gu Wangchen acted generously, ordering every signature dish on the menu.
Only after the waiter exited the room with a joyful face did Sikong Yue speak up. “Gu, I sensed familiar True Qi signatures in the hall!”
“Oh, you noticed too?” Gu Wangchen raised an eyebrow. ‘My guess was indeed correct,’ he thought to himself.
“Yes, but I’m not entirely sure. After all, there are too many people and they’re too far away.”
“Meaning you need to be in close proximity to tell?”
Sikong Yue nodded. “More or less. The main issue is that they might be masking their True Qi. Like back at the porridge shed, when those people circulated their True Qi, I could distinguish them even in a crowd.”
“Hmm…”
Gu Wangchen narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, a plan forming in his mind.
“You can’t get close to those guys. I noticed they’re already on guard against us. If you startle them now, we won’t be able to find them at all.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Lord, I can defeat all of them by myself. I guarantee not a single one will escape!” Wei Yang, who had been silent, finally spoke.
Gu Wangchen glanced at him. “Wei Yang, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve only just entered Stage 4, right? And you practice military formation techniques?”
“Yes, Lord,” Wei Yang said, patting his chest. “Even though I practice military techniques, with this armor and the long-handled saber on my back, I can definitely crush those common martial artists!”
“No rush. You’ll have a chance to redeem yourself later.” Gu Wangchen gestured for the eager Wei Yang to calm down. “Sikong Yue, Wei Yang, the three of us are going to put on a play in a moment…”
—
“Tell me, those three who just came in… they’re government officials, right?”
In the main hall on the first floor, a few lean, capable martial artists with thick callouses on their hands were talking in low voices.
“They look like it, yet they don’t,” a martial artist with a scar at the corner of his eye analyzed. “That pretty boy in the brocade robes has no cultivation at all. At a glance, he’s just a dandy who used his connections to snag an official post for fun.”
“But the soldier behind him… I sensed a heavy aura. He seems to have a baleful intent about him. He’s likely a veteran who retired from somewhere.”
“The woman is also a cultivator with decent strength.”
“Mhm.” The scarred man nodded. “That supports my guess even more. A wealthy young master bringing bodyguards along to experience the common world!”
“Exactly!”
“Ha! I told you, how could we possibly get caught so easily? We’ve run so far; we’re absolutely safe!”
“Come, come, drink!”
The men raised their cups, the sound of clinking glass filling the air.
*Clang—*
*Crash!*
As the men clinked their cups, a muffled sound erupted from upstairs.
“Damn it, Wei Heng! Seize this woman who insists on doing things the hard way!”
A voice filled with exasperation rang out from above. The men immediately grew interested, pricking up their ears to listen.
“That voice… was it the pretty boy from earlier?”
“It’s him. What’s going on?”
*Thud—*
Before they could finish their speculation, a lithe and agile figure flipped over the stairs, landing in the center of the hall. She looked around alertly.
“Surrender already!”
*Boom!*
A second, burly and heavy figure dropped down immediately after. The long-handled saber on his back gleamed with a cold light. With a single strike, he smashed the table Sikong Yue had just stepped on into splinters.
“Bastard! I, Si Yueyue, will never submit to that guy!”
With that, she dodged back and forth through the hall, running toward several specific tables to hide.
*Crackle, pop—*
One chased while the other fled. In an instant, the hall was in total disarray as objects were smashed and broken.
“Excuse me, coming through!” Sikong Yue suddenly charged toward the men. She leapt onto their table, paused for a split second, and then immediately jumped to another.
“Damn it, what’s happening?”
Looking at the food and wine overturned on their table, the men who had been enjoying the show suddenly lost their tempers. They grabbed their weapons, preparing to chase after Sikong Yue.
The scarred man frowned and quickly stopped them, whispering, “Something isn’t right. We need to leave, now!”
“Leave? Didn’t you see that woman knock over our wine—”
“Have you forgotten why we’re here? Is the mission more important or the food? Let’s go!”
“Fine.”
Having said their piece, the men took advantage of the chaos in the hall, tossed down a silver ingot, and quietly slipped out through the side door.
“Officer, Heroine, please stop fighting!”
At that moment, the restaurant’s manager ran out from the back. Seeing that the restaurant’s hired muscle was too intimidated to step forward, he realized how serious the situation was.
In desperation, he ran to Gu Wangchen, who was slowly coming down the stairs, and pleaded, “Lord, please tell your two subordinates to stop! If this continues, my shop will be ruined!”
“Ruined?” Gu Wangchen gave a casual laugh, his tone full of disdain. “This young master is going to take down that disobedient woman today! No one will stop me! I’ll pay ten times the amount for anything broken!”
With that, he pulled a silver banknote from his robes and slapped it into the manager’s arms.
Seeing the value on the banknote, the manager’s expression instantly shifted from grief to joy. He bowed deeply to Gu Wangchen before shouting, “Everyone, listen up! Fan Yu Restaurant has been booked by this lord today! Please leave for now. All your expenses today are on the house!”
“You hateful bastard! I’m not done with you!”
Sikong Yue turned and glared fiercely at Gu Wangchen before slipping out of the restaurant along with the crowd.
“Wei Heng, after her!”
Gu Wangchen’s face tightened with urgency. He followed Wei Yang out of the restaurant, and the two vanished into the entrance of the back alley.
“This…” The manager looked at the suddenly empty restaurant, feeling a bit bewildered.
—
“What’s the verdict, Sikong Yue?”
Reaching the back alley, the three stopped their pursuit and gathered in a deserted corner to share information.
Sikong Yue rubbed her shoulder and turned her back to them. She pulled a small bronze mirror from her robes and adjusted her appearance slightly before turning back.
Seeing Gu Wangchen’s playful smile, she instinctively hid the mirror and cleared her throat. “Something’s not quite right.”
Gu Wangchen looked away from the bronze mirror he had given her, not bothering to mention it. “What do you mean?”
“Although the True Qi is similar to what I felt at the porridge shed, there are subtle differences. It’s like different people practicing the same cultivation technique.”
“You can even distinguish that?”
Sikong Yue nodded. “Of course. This is my talent!”
With that, she looked at Wei Yang. “Captain Wei, can you circulate that military technique of yours again? I want to double-check something.”
“What?” Wei Yang’s heart skipped a beat.
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